GOP Nashville Response to Mayor O'Connell's Remarks During the State of Metro Address

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nashville, Tennessee — May 5, 2025 — Mayor Freddie O'Connell’s dismissive remarks about homeowners protesting his 27% property tax hike shows how out of touch he truly is.

Our frustration isn’t about defunding teachers or police—it’s about rejecting a system that’s hooked on federal handouts and bloated spending in the other areas he won’t address.  

The same inflation he cites as the reason for the increase is caused by this very problem of the federal government printing money and increasing the national debt higher than the GDP. The mayor and Metro Council have tethered Nashville’s future to unreliable federal funds, creating a cycle of dependency that burdens taxpayers. 

Instead of addressing this, O'Connell paints protesters as the enemies of essential services, sidestepping real issues like his push for a $7 billion transit plan that prioritizes empty buses, bike lanes gathering dust, and sidewalks that go nowhere and connect to nothing. 

Nationally, school boards have seen an astronomical increase in administrative staff overhead, while teacher pay remains low and student performance keeps falling behind other nations. 

The mayor should be focusing on reducing total administrative staff and salaries, reviewing contracts with private companies that supposedly fix our potholes, and hiring more cops and cooperating with federal authorities to remove human traffickers and drug cartels. 

Property taxes are inherently regressive, disproportionately burdening the elderly on fixed incomes and parents struggling to feed their children. For Black and Hispanic families, these taxes are a devastating blow, eroding their ability to build and pass on generational wealth. 

Democrats claim to champion the vulnerable, but when conservatives propose reducing government overreach to ease the tax burden on families, liberals resort to fearmongering, stoking division to maintain control and keep people dependent on their policies. 

The mayor’s claim that protesters want to gut essential services is a distraction; we’re demanding an end to wasteful spending that fuels dependency and debt. Nashvillians deserve leadership that prioritizes fiscal responsibility and protects our most vulnerable, not policies that deepen inequality and destabilize families. 

It is time for Nashvillians to get up and yell, “No new taxes! We are not your ATM!” 

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For press inquiries, contact 

Diana DeVille, GOP Nashville Communications/Corresponding Secretary 

communications@gopnashville.org